And t'other side:
Between what comes on it from the factory (quite a lot for the money), and the work I've had done to it or done myself) it's one hell of a piece; Some folks may even consider this work excessive for a 1911, but I'm very happy with it:
1. Polished integrated ramped, match bull barrel with a fully supported chamber (for .45super)
2. Titanium firing pin
3. Tuned custom hammer and trigger group with a 3.25# pull
4. Ultra short, ultra light, adjustable trigger
5. Tuned extractor
6. Tuned ejector
7. Dual captured recoil system with 22# wolff springs (for .45 super)
8. Tightened and trued frame and slide (but not too tightened)
9. Checkered arched mainspring housing
10. Wraparound hogue finger groove grips
11. Torx head grip screws
12. Lowerd and flared ejection port
13. Lowered, extended, and thinned tool steel ambi-dextrous safety
14. Lowered, extended, and thinned tool steel slide stop
15. Beveled mag well
16. Novak lo-profile combat sights with tritium inserts.
17. Recessed angle cut muzzle crown
18. Wilson mags with steel ultrathin base plates
19. Full wolff sring set
20. Slide flats trued and polished, the rest of the gun bead blasted
It's 100% reliable, and on my best days makes cloverleaf groups and touching doubletaps at any range up to 25 yards.
The thing is, almost all of that was from the factory for $800 (about $150 off retail). It's as much "stuff" as my Wilson from 7 years ago has, for 1/3 the price. The smith work was another $300, including parts, and maybe another $300 in other parts (4 wilson mags, slide stop, safety, springs).
I dont consider any of that excessive, though certainly not all of it was completely necessary. It's exactly the gun I want, and it preforms perfectly.
